Article by Fr. Byron

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Facilitator's Guide

 Background/Supporting Quotations:

From Romans 13:1, 3, 6, 7

"Let every person be subordinate to higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and all authority that exists is from God.

For rulers are not a cause of fear to good conduct, but to evil.

This is why you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, devoting themselves to this very thing.

Pay to all their dues: taxes to whom taxes are due, toll to whom toll is due; respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

From Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions

"Our tradition proclaims that the person is not only sacred but also social. How we organize our society - in economics and politics, in law and policy - directly affects human dignity and the capacity of individuals to grow in community." (p.4)

From Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992)

Society ensures social justice by providing the conditions that allow associations and individuals to obtain their due. (#1943)

As far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life. The manner of this participation may vary from one country or culture to another. "One must pay tribute to those nations whose systems permit the largest possible number of the citizens to take part in public life in a climate of genuine freedom." (#1915)

From The Catholic Northwest Progress, publication of the Archdiocese of Seattle, 6/1/2000, article by Rev. William Byron, SJ.

From the papal encyclical, Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), Pope John XXIII, 1963

"Once again we exhort our people to take an active part in public life, and to contribute towards the attainment of the common good of the entire human family as well as to that of their own country. They should endeavor, therefore, in the light of the Faith and with the strength of love, to ensure that the various institutions - whether economic, social, cultural or political in purpose - should be such as not to create obstacles, but rather to facilitate or render less arduous people's perfectioning of themselves both in the natural order as well as in the supernatural." (#146)